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Aurora
The
Autumn 2012
Notes from the Director
North Dakota Space
Grant Consortium Dear Colleagues,
University of North Dakota
I would like to dedicate this issue of Aurora to Suezette Rene Bieri, Deputy
North Dakota State University Director, North Dakota Space Grant Consortium, who is retiring on March 15,
Dickinson State University 2013, after more than twenty one years of service to the
consortium. While the program saw many new directors
Mayville State University and consortium member contacts over the years,
Minot State University Suezette has been one constant force ensuring conti-
nuity and stability to the program. Over the years,
Valley City State University Suezette made several key contributions to the consor-
Cankdeska Cikana tium’s progress including well-run pre-service teacher
Community College training workshops, flawless annual reporting, and sup-
Fort Berthold port to the numerous STEM initiatives across the state.
Community College With graduate degrees in Counseling & Guidance, and
Space Studies, Suezette was ideally suited to mentor-
Sitting Bull College
ing and motivating students to get engaged in STEM
Turtle Mountain areas. Her contributions to the program are many, but if
Community College I have to pick one, it will be her excellent rapport with
United Tribes people she worked with, particularly our consortium
Technical College members and state legislators, which was instrumental
in securing state match funding for the consortium. I am Suezette Rene Bieri
Bismarck State College
personally indebted to her for all the support she pro-
Lake Region State College vided to me as I settled into my role as the Director of the North Dakota Space
Dakota College at Bottineau Grant Consortium. I will certainly miss her experience, knowledge and insights
as well as her great sense of humor! On behalf of the Space Grant communi-
North Dakota State ty, I wish her well in her retirement.
College of Science
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Caitlin
Williston State College Nolby who will be our new coordinator for North Dakota Space
Grand Forks Herald Grant Consortium. She will also play an additional role as coordi-
nator of ND NASA EPSCoR. Caitlin is a recent graduate of UND,
North Dakota Heritage Center having completed her Master’s degree in Space Studies. She is
Gateway to Science Center passionate about promoting STEM education and is excited to be
a part of Space Grant and its programs. Caitlin joined us recently
and will have about a month’s overlap with Suezette, learning the Caitlin Nolby
Contact Information:
key aspects of the program from her.
Mailing Address: Besides the personnel changes, the past year has been very busy for the
University of North Dakota North Dakota Space Grant Consortium. This issue of Aurora highlights some of
Department of Space Studies
4149 University Avenue our exciting activities. The near space balloon payload competition for schools
513 Clifford Hall (run by UND Space Studies graduate students) is a new project and has
Grand Forks, ND caught the imagination of school children in the region. The program is poised
58202-9008
to expand in its second year with more schools participating. On the funding
Director: side, though federal augmentation funds are not forthcoming, we were very
Santhosh Seelan happy to receive the base federal funding for FY 12 &13. Non availability of
seelan@space.edu
701-777-4896 701-777-3711 (fax) augmentation funds even more strongly underlines the importance of the state
match funding (thanks Suezette!), which enables us to run the program with-
Deputy Director: out too many cuts.
Suezette Rene Bieri
bieri@space.edu
701-777-4856 701-777-3711 (fax)
Website:
http://ndspacegrant.und.edu/ Santhosh Seelan
Cover Photo: Terri Moser, a graduate of Lake
Region State College and now a student at
Mayville State University, worked with elemen-
tary school children during her summer
research experience at Sully’s Hill National
Game Preserve near Devils Lake, ND. She
developed lesson plans for the Preserve’s out-
reach program. Space Grant partnered with
U.S. Fish and Wildlife to offer her the research
fellowship.
2
Up, Up and Away
High Altitude
Ballooning Group
(HABG)
The North Dakota Space Grant
Consortium supports an active high altitude
ballooning program at UND. Undergraduate
and graduate students develop small pay-
loads and launch them using helium bal-
loons. The balloons have tracking equipment
on them so that students can follow the path
of the balloons and retrieve the payloads.
The data is then analyzed. The balloons can
reach an altitude of 90,000 feet resulting in
some spectacular pictures of the Earth’s cur-
vature from the payload cam-
L to R: Tim Holland; Jeremy Holter; Marissa Saad; eras. Faculty and student from
Joshua Nelson; John Nordlie (holding balloon); Ron several departments are
Fevig; Annie Wargetz; Jonathan Schiralli; and Katrina involved with HABG.
Jackson.
High Altitude
Student Platform (HASP)
UND collaborates with the University of Northern Florida on the
HASP project. In HASP, payloads are flown on a platform (gondola)
that is kept aloft for at least 24 hours. Shown here are Wade Snarr,
an undergraduate student in electrical engineering at UND (in blue
jeans), with Dr. Nirmal Patel and a student in mechanical engineer-
ing both from UNF. The picture was taken in Palestine, Texas in 2012
where the UND/UNF payload was tested in a thermal vacuum cham-
ber and then integrated onto the top of the gondola. The actual pay-
load is the tall, white enclosure directly behind Snarr. NASA pays
testing, integration, launch and retrieval costs for HASP.
Background of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program
NASA initiated the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, also
known as Space Grant, in 1989. Space Grant is a national network of colleges and
universities. These institutions are working to expand opportunities for Americans to
understand and participate in NASA’s aeronautics and space projects by supporting
and enhancing science and engineering education, research and public outreach
efforts. The Space Grant national network includes over 850 affiliates from univer-
sities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers and state and local agencies.
These affiliates belong to one of 52 consortia in all 50 states, the District of
Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The 52 consortia fund fellowships and scholarships for students pursuing careers in science, mathematics,
engineering and technology, or STEM, as well as curriculum enhancements and faculty development. Member
colleges and universities also administer pre-college and public service education projects in their respective
states.
3
Lillian Goettler
Scholarship Recipient
Who was Lillian Goettler?
Lillian L. Goettler was a distinguished NDSU
professor. Awarded a doctorate in Mechanical
Engineering from the University of Massachusetts-
Amherst, she came to NDSU with her husband in
1978.
Lillian Goettler became a trailblazer for women
in science by being a role model for girls and
young women. Her Ph.D. in Mechanical
Engineering was unusual for a woman at that time.
In addition, she had an intense interest in involving
females in science throughout her career. Lillian
Goettler died August 14, 1983.
This scholarship is given each year to a female
undergraduate student in engineering at NDSU
who best exemplifies the academic and leadership
qualities of Dr. Geottler and who shows the poten-
tial for a promising career in engineering.
Recipients must be American citizens and have a
minimum of a 3.5 grade point average.
Katie Scholl
Industrial Engineering
at North Dakota State University
“One of the greatest things about mathematics is that
there are problems for which there are solutions. I hope to
someday enter the field of Industrial Engineering, specifi-
cally specializing in health systems. There I would be able
to apply and use these solutions to improve current sys-
tems, which would be very rewarding because these sys-
tems directly touch so many lives in my community.”
Katie Scholl
Desert Research
In 2012 Space Grant was invited to bring the NDX-1,
the prototype Mars spacesuit designed and built at UND,
to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah for testing.
The suit testing allowed the scientists at MDRS to experi-
ence what it would be like to complete geology experi-
ments inside a spacesuit while UND developed proce-
dures for improving the spacesuit.
Shown here are (L to R) Pablo de Leon, Tim Holland and Annie Wargetz
at the Mars Desert Research Station where they tested the NDX-1 proto-
type space suit in 2012. Wargetz is currently a graduate student in Space
Studies. Holland is a recent graduate, working as biomedical flight con-
troller for Wyle at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Pablo de Leon is the
Director of the Human Space Flight Laboratory. All are from UND.
4
Travel Stipends
The North Dakota Space Grant
Consortium provides travel stipends to
North Dakota college students whose
papers or posters have been accepted
at regional or national conferences. In
most cases their research has been
funded by Space Grant and is of interest
to NASA. These research projects are Stephanie Finnvik
part of the plan to develop the nation’s Space Studies—UND
science, technology, engineering and
219th American
mathematics workforce. The presenta-
Astronomical Society
tions are a means of showing the nation-
Austin, Texas
al academic community the types of
research that are occurring in North Comparative Study of Outer
Dakota. Halos of Planetary Nebula
NGC 246, NGC 1501 and
NGC 2022 Measurements
Katrina Jackson
Space Studies—UND
Brad Traeger Academic High Altitude
Mechanical Engineering—NDSU Conference
Society of Cardiovascular Nashville, Tennessee
Computed Tomography Meeting North Dakota High Altitude
Baltimore, Maryland Balloon Student Payload
Non-invasive Assessment of Competition
Systolic Left Ventricular
Hemodynamics by 320-slice CT
Caitlin Nolby
Space Studies—UND
Communicating Science—
A National Conference on
Kajli Agrawal Science Education and
Space Studies—UND Public Outreach
AGU Fall Conference 2012 Tucson, Arizona
San Francisco, California Introducing Astronomy into
E-Region Electron Density High School Physics
Profile Estimation from Curriculum through the Use
Radio Occulation of the University of North
Measurements Dakota Observatory
5
NDSGC Scholarships
Every academic year, Space Grant provides each of the affiliate two year, tribal and four year
colleges with a set amount of funding for scholarships. Each college chooses its Space Grant
scholarship recipients and the amount of money that each scholarship is worth.
Cankdeska Cikana United Tribes Lake Region
Community College Technical College State College
(Little Hoop Community College) Genevieve Bullhead Janie Chepulis
Ryan Brown Nicholas Gladue Quinn Dalziel
Craig Brown, Jr. Pizi Lee David Kim
Madeline Harrison Alvin Jeremy McLeon Lincoln Larson
Magdeline Harrison Andrew Montriel Talon Mack
Dara Charboneau Elizabeth Sam Kelley Olson
Lisa Georgeson Claudette Zephier Molly Nienhuis
Demi Butts Sharis Yri
Rodney Aguilar
Minot State University
Hailey Crosswhite
Free Dubois
MacKenzie Fisher Williston
Shayna Sherman
Justin Ziegler State College
Laura Bakke Gage Shae
Megan Charboneau
Josh Beaudoin Jeffrey Purslow
Jonell Charboneau
Johannah Miller
Duane Mudgett
Mariah Peltier Bismarck
Waynita Chaske Valley City State College
Carmita St. Pierre State University Steven Schild
Darlys Teel Aaron Burgad Danielle Bailly
Leah Demarce Wayne Engelhard Cole Miller
Sam Merrick, Jr. Ashley Hinrichs Lelan Bosch
Chelsea Young Brian Chepulis Aaron Moultrie
Allura LaRoque Kyle Ketterling Austin Nodland
DoLan Herald Amy Field Chris Gorrie
Alexa DeMarce Ben Haugeberg Dominic Marks
Leonard Fox Cody Hoggarth Eli Severson
Cassandra Cloud Bryce Brady
Christina Jahner Dickinson
Turtle Mountain Brittany Lehner
State University
Community College Lisa Jensen
Allison Sadowsky
David Grandbois Kinsly Tarmann
Brittany Kockelmann Brandi Herauf
Dillon Allery Allson Bebee
Amy Doll
Jenna Desjarlais Michelle Decker
Katie Marshall
James Stogner Garret Hecker Stephen Engebretson
Cole Schroeder Matthew Kietzman Justin Herner
Terry Poitra Tyler Bryant Ben Montgomery
6
NDSGC Scholarships
Mamie Kieson Ryan Ness Paul Mitchell
Alicia Marsh Rachel Sanders Benjamin Isaacson
Kale Frederick Raven Smith Dustin Thompson
Daniel Mehrer Tyler Vincent Michael Schmitt
Kelly O’Connor Krista Erdahl
Catherine Hahn Morgan Burrer
Derek Jacobs Fort Berthold Austin Schultz
Sarah Thompson Community College Clarence Cleveland, Jr.
Jane Wallace Lisa DeVille
Susan Indvik Michael DeVille Sitting Bull
Joseph Dickens
Mayville Tanya Driver State College
Geneva Good Bear Ann Solano
State University Sunshine Claymore
Shelby Lego
Allison Aaland Amber Gill
Sasha Silitti
Joe Biggane Elsa Archambault
Jennifer White Bear
Beth Cakebread
Jim Coran
Whitney Federenko North Dakota State
Liza Hoglo College of Science
Katie Kolness Korre Spidahl
Laura Kolness Riley McMahon
Hannah Ness Richard Juelfs
Shown here are Dustin Thompson and Michael Tolbert being awarded 2011 Space Grant
Scholarships by Shannon King, associate professor (far left), and Katie Nettel, director of finan-
cial aid (far right), at North Dakota State College of Science.
7
Focus Research Areas
The North Dakota Space Grant Consortium provides funding at its affiliate colleges and universities for
research projects that are of particular interest of NASA and that provide opportunities for undergraduate
and graduate students to consider careers in science, technology engineering and mathematics.
Projects are currently being funded at UND, NDSU and Fort Berthold Community College.
Alex Nikel (left) and Charles
Tyler prepare the CropCam
UAV for a flight over a
farmer’s field.
CropCam
UND — Dr. Santhosh Seelan
Crop Cam was initiated in an effort to provide agriculture is incorporated by varying the chemical
farmers with aerial imagery of their fields in both the treatments applied throughout the field.
visible and infrared spectrum through the use of an Dr. Santhosh Seelan, John Nordlie and Alex Nikel
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). This imagery can be flew four times at each of the chosen sites during the
used to assess the health condition of the vegetation. summer of 2012. Much was learned by both the farm-
Once this data is analyzed, the concept of precision ers and the researchers.
An Intelligent Composite Material System for
Real-time Stress Alleviation in Aircraft Structures
NDSU — Dr. Jimmy Kim
Stress-control in aircrafts is one of the primary Composite materials are widely accepted by the
considerations to improve the sustainability of air- aircraft community because of their favorable weight-
craft structures. Hysteretic stresses in the vicinity of to-strength ratio. Despite such benefit, composite
empennage and wings of an aircraft are a critical elements need particular attention because delami-
factor affecting the behavior of structural compo- nation and local failure usually govern their service
nents. Effective management of stresses in aircraft life. Therefore, a positive means to control applied
members can reduce long-term expenses associat- stresses is required.
ed with maintenance, repair and replacement.
8
Focus Research Areas
Michael Telste, a graduate student at NDSU,
checks aerospace composite samples in Dr.
Mijia Yang’s civil engineering lab.
Real Time In-situ
Impact and Damage
Identification in
Aerospace
Materials and
Structures through
Fiber Optic
Sensors
NDSU — Dr. Mijia Yang
Structural health monitoring (SHM) is one
of the most important tools to maintain integri-
ty of aerospace structural systems and pro-
mote safety in air traveling, since undetected
or untreated damage may grow and lead to
structural catastrophic failure. The core of
SHM is to find an accurate and robust nonde-
structive damage identification and assess-
ment methodology.
Polymeric and ceramic-matric composites
have been increasingly used for aerospace
structures. These materials are lightweight
with high stiffness and strength. However, they
are easily damaged by the impact of flying
objects due to their layered configuration. It is
necessary to develop a damage locating and
growth monitoring system which will be capa-
ble of acquiring and analyzing data in real-time
in-situ fashion.
Taylor Bruhschwein, a graduate student at
NDSU, works with aerospace materials in
Dr. Mijia Yang’s civil engineering lab.
9
Focus Research Areas
Michael Morningstar, engineering major, (left) works with Dr. Kerry Hartman, chair of
science at FBCC, doing field work to gather in-situ data for their research project.
Utilizing Remote Sensing to Investigate the
Surface Impacts of Oil Development on
the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation
Fort Berthold — Dr. Kerry Hartman
Students from Fort Berthold Community College and staff of the USGS at the EROS Data Center are cre-
ating a baseline of information regarding the environmental impacts of surface activities of oil development
on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
CubeSat
Exploring New Technology UND — Dr. Ron Fevig
Tools to Enhance
Astronomy Teaching
and Learning in Quantifying Dark Energy
Grades 3-8 Classrooms Using Galaxy Clusters
UND —Dr. Mark Guy and UND — Dr. Wayne Barkhouse
Dr. Tim Young
Human Powered Vehicle
(Moonbuggy)
NDSU — Dr. Karami Ghodrat
10Transit of Venus
On June 5, 2012, the UND Observatory hosted more than 300 people from
Grand Forks and surrounding communities to witness the passage of Venus
across the disk of the Sun. Families and individuals descended on the obser-
vatory to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event. During the warm months of the
year the Observatory hosts monthly “Star Parties” when the public can come
and look at the sky through a variety of telescopes. At those events hands on
astronomy activities are provided for children of all ages.
National Space Grant Conferences
John Boucha (left) and John Dvorak
each gave presentations last year at
National Space Grant Meetings on their
research which was funded by the North
Dakota Space Grant Consortium.
Boucha’s presentation, given in Green
Bay, Wisconsin, was on the “app” he devel-
oped for the Ipad about the history of
space, rocketry, astronomy and space sci-
ence. That “app” can be downloaded for
free.
Dvorak’s presentation, given in
Washington, D.C., was on Field of View, a
private company he established as a result
of his Space Grant research. Field of View
uses small unmanned aircraft systems for
agricultural remote sensing application.
11Art on the Prairie
History of Space Exploration at Lake Region State College
During spring semester 2012, Lake Region State College and completed a mural depicting some of the high lights of
held a week long “History of Space Exploration” program space exploration. Pictured below is an image of students
that involved more than 100 students in art, history and actually painting the mural. At the top of this and the next
biology. As part of that program the students designed page is an image of the finished mural.
12Art on the Prairie
Earth as Art III
In 2012, Dakota College at Bottineau, Fort Berthold Community
College and the University of North Dakota sponsored Earth as Art
III exhibits in their respective communities. Shown on this page are
two examples of scenes from Earth as Art III.
Earth as Art III is a collection of Landsat 5 and 7 scenes creat-
ed for aesthetic purposes rather than scientific interpretation. The
art exhibit provides fresh and inspiring glimpses of different parts
of our planet’s complex surface. Instead of paint, the medium for
these works of art is light. But the Landsat satellites don’t see light Van Gogh from Space—In the style of “Starry Night,”
as the human eyes do; instead, they see radiant energy reflected massive congregations of greenish phytoplankton
from the Earth’s surface in certain wavelengths or bands. When swirl in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish
these different bands are combined into a single image, remark- island in the Baltic Sea.
able patterns, colors and shapes emerge.
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite
missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological
Survey. The satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of about 438
miles. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have collected information
about Earth from space. This science, known as remote sensing,
has matured with the Landsat Program.
The exhibit has 40 scenes and is available at no cost except
for one-way shipping from the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota. Each scene is 28’ x28” and is on stretched canvas
with no glass.
Icelandic Tiger—This stretch of Iceland’s northern coast
resembles a tiger’s head complete with stripes of orange,
black and white.
13Space Center Internships
Joshua Borchardt
Ames Research Center
North Dakota State University
Mechanical Engineering
Anoklase Jean Luc Ayitou
Goddard Space Flight Center
North Dakota State University
Chemistry
Corey Bergsrud
Brad Schanche Langley Research Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory University of North Dakota
University of North Dakota Electrical Engineering
Space Studies
14Space Center Internships
David Grandbois
Johnson Space Center
Turtle Mountain Community College
Engineering
Andrew Gleich
Kennedy Space Center
University of North Dakota
Chemical Engineering
Katrina Jackson
Goddard Space Flight Center
University of North Dakota
Space Studies
James Mack
Goddard Space Flight Center
University of North Dakota
Mechanical Engineering
15Space Center Internships
Jonathan Schiralli
Helio Research Observatory
University of North Dakota
Space Studies
Timothy Holland
Marshall Space Flight Center Academy
University of North Dakota
Space Studies
Joshua Berk
NASA Headquarters
University of North Dakota
Space Studies
Paul Johnson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
University of North Dakota
Mechanical Engineering
Nicole Thom
Goddard Space Flight Center Academy
University of North Dakota
Space Studies
16Meet an Affiliate
Shaun Prince
of Lake Region State College
Shaun Prince has been a science faculty member at Lake Region
State College for the past 12 years. She received her AA Degree from
that institution in 1994 and her BS in Biology, with a minor in
Environmental Science, from St. Cloud State University. Shaun com-
pleted her MS in Environmental Science, with a minor in Ecology, from
Bemidji State University.
Shaun is a representative for Lake Region State College serving
on the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium committee. She is also
one of the campus advisors for CRU. With the assistance of NASA
Space Grant Scholarship money, Shaun has developed an integrated
scholarship opportunity for students on her campus. This allows stu-
dents to volunteer in STEM areas to get an introduction and “hands-
on” work experience in their career pathway. She also collaborates
with other academic programs, like Art and History, to design and offer
cohesive experiences for students to show how all general education
courses can be studied and learned together. Shaun also enjoys vol-
unteering at the local elementary schools to encourage the love of sci-
ence at an early age.
Shaun is married to her husband, Brian, and lives in a rural setting
outside of Devils Lake. They have three daughters, and are in the
process of adopting their first son.
Shaun loves the NASA Space Grant Consortium because she has seen what a difference these experi-
ences have made in the lives and futures of her students. “I feel it is a vital piece to the success of our North
Dakota students as they strive for things they felt were ‘out of this world!’ They have now found them to be
within reach and attainable!”
LRSC offers 42 programs. Some examples of those programs are Accounting, Farm Management, Peace
Officer Training, Social Work, and Wind Energy Technician. Students enrolled at the college can earn bachelors
degrees in Business Administration and Elementary Education through an agreement with Mayville State College
and a MBA through an agreement with the University of North Dakota.
L to R: Kory Boehmer, Associate Professor; Steven Oliver; Shaun Prince, Associate Professor; and Lexi
Erickson. Oliver and Erickson were recipients of the Space Grant Integration Scholarships at Lake
Region State College last year.
17Research Fellowships
The NDSGC research fellowships are given on a competitive basis to undergraduate and graduate
students at affilate colleges who are doing research that is of particular interest to NASA.
Darren Grau Korey Southerland
Space Studies Environmental Geography
University of North Dakota University of North Dakota
John Boucha
Space Studies
University of
North Dakota
Nicolai Baer
ElectricalEngineering/
Mechanical Engineering
University of North Dakota
Brian Badders
Space Studies
University of
North Dakota
Corey Bergsrud
Electrical
Engineering
University of
North Dakota
Annie Wargetz
Space Studies
University of
North Dakota
Zachary Wygant
Electrical Engineering
University of North Dakota
18Research Fellowships
Katrina Jackson Lane Azure
Space Studies Education
University of Doctoral student
North Dakota North Dakota State
University
Terry Moser
Elementary Education
Lake Region State
College/Mayville State
University
Tyler Hill
Space Studies
University of
North Dakota
Britt Helten
Pre-engineering
Lake Region State College
and North Dakota
State University
Alisa Fairweather
Chemistry/Biochemistry
North Dakota State University Nathan Froelich
Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology
North Dakota
Zachary Hamarin State University
Michael
Mechanical Engineering Kalinosky
University of North Dakota Biochemistry
North Dakota
State University
19In Our Backyard
These lovely images of the aurora borealis were taken in September of 2012 near Grand Forks by Jonathan Schiralli. He
is a graduate student in the Department of Space Studies at UND. An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in
the high latitude regions. Auroras are associated with the solar wind, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the Sun.
The Earth’s magnetic field traps these participates, many of which travel toward the poles. Collisions between these ions and
atmospheric atoms and molecules cause energy releases in the form of auroras. Auroras are more frequent and brighter dur-
ing the intense phase of the solar cycle when coronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind. In the northern
latitudes the effect is known as the aurora borealis named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for
the north wind, Boreas. Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis, has almost identical features to the aurora borealis and
changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone. Aurorae occur on other planets as well.
20Trip to Washington, D.C.
During Spring Break 2012, a group of 17 under-
graduate and graduate students, led by Dr. Paul
Hardersen, traveled to Washington, DC, for a week-
long exploration of the science and politics of the
U.S. space program. During the week, the group vis-
ited NASA Headquarters, the NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics
Laboratory, the U.S. Capitol and the North Dakota
congressional delegation and the Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum.
FIRST Robotics
The North Dakota Space Grant
Consortium sponsored two FIRST
Robotics teams last year. On the left is
the team from North Star Public School
in Cando and on the right is the team
from Northwood/Hatton High Schools.
These schools have participated in
FIRST Robotics for many, many years
and have built very credible, impressive
robotics programs.
Cando Northwood
Robotics Team Robotics Team
Lunabotics
A multidisciplinary senior design team of UND
students from electrical engineering, mechani-
cal engineering, computer science and aero-
space science competed in the Lunabotics
Mining Competition last year. The team was
required to build a robot that autonomously col-
lected regolith, a very fine sand that covers the
surface of the Moon. The competition took place
at Kennedy Space Center and involved a total of
52 teams.
Some of the 2012 UND Lunabotics team with their advisors Dr. Naima
Kaabouch (on the right) and Dr. Jeremiah Neubert (on the left).
http://und.edu/org/lunabotics/html/team_members.2010_2011.html
21Summer Faculty Fellowships
The North Dakota Space Grant Consortium provides summer faculty fellowships so that the
teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics can be enhanced at North
Dakota colleges and universities. New courses can be developed or existing courses can be
upgraded to include more space science material. Faculty at all of Space Grant’s affiliate
institution of higher education are eligible to apply for these fellowships.
William Shay
Jeff Seig North Dakota State
Mayville State University College of Science
Department of Department of Chemistry
Elementary Education Revise Chem 115L, 116L,
Revise EDUC 484—Secondary Chem 121L, 122L and
Methods for Science Chem 241L and 242L
Donald Hoff
Valley City State University
Department of Science
Revise Environmental Geology
and Earth Science 300
22Student Ballooning Competition
North Dakota Near-Space
Balloon Competition Coming in 2013
In 2012 Space Grant sponsored the North
Dakota High Altitude Balloon Student Payload
Competition for grades 6-12 in North Dakota. Space
Grant provided up to $250 per team for material
and supplies. Monetary prizes were also given in
four categories plus a grand prize category. Part of
the grand prize was a trip to UND Aerospace to tour
the aviation and space facilities.
Four teams competed with the launch being
held in early May. The helium
filled balloon carried the student
payloads to at least 67,000 feet.
Following the launch the bal-
loon was tracked for about two
hours after which it descended
and the payloads were
retrieved so that students
could take them back to their
respective classrooms to
analyze the data. Teams
competed from Cavalier,
Northwood, Bismarck and
Mandan.
Cavalier—testing the
effects of the upper atmos-
phere on eggs and measur-
ing radiation levels—winner in “Best Lessons
Learned” category
Mandan—comparing the effectiveness of solar
panels in the upper atmosphere and on the Earth—
winner in “Best Craftsmanship” category
Bismarck—obtaining live video footage from the
air—winner in “Best Innovation” category
Northwood—measuring the temperature, rela-
tive humidity, solar panel voltage and dew point at
different altitudes and taking pictures—winner in
“Best Report” category
Northwood was also the grand prize winner.
23Bismarck Cankdeska Cikana Dakota College Dickinson
Community College at Bottineau State University
State College
Fort Berthold Gateway to Grand Forks Herald Lake Region
Community College Science Center State College
Mayville Minot North Dakota State North Dakota
State University State University College of Science State University
Sitting Bull State Historical Society Turtle Mountain United Tribes
College of North Dakota Community College Technical College
University of Valley City Williston
North Dakota State University State College
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